Law Notes
Negligence:
All the necessary elements of negligence must be proven by the plaintiff, and any possible defence must be countered, in order to successfully sue someone for negligence
• Negligence is a tort, involving another person’s failure to take reasonable care in circumstances where their conduct might foreseeably cause us harm or loss.
What is a tort?
• The Law of Torts is concerned with minimum standards of conduct expected between people.
• To establish liability for a tort you have to go to court (ie. your right to expect certain conduct is conferred by law). Liability in tort is based upon a ‘relationship of liability’ existing between people, in contrast to contractual rights which are based on the ‘relationship of agreement’ between parties to a contract.
Aim and elements of negligence
Aim: Protection of a person’s physical/mental health and their property and economic interests from damage caused by another person’s failure to take reasonable care.
Question: Why has negligence become so pervasive since Donoghue vStevenson in 1932?
“Origin of Negligence [ Donogue v Stevenson ]”
However, to be liable it must be shown:
Step 1: the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff;
Step 2: the defendant has failed (breached) to exercise the proper standard of care (i.e. been negligent); and
Step 3: the negligence caused the plaintiff’s (reasonably foreseeable) loss or damages.
Establishing a duty of care : Must establish 3 factors:
1. Reasonable foreseeability of harm (preliminary part to ‘neighbour principle’ developed in Donoghue v Stevenson p.38);
2. A relationship of sufficient proximity (developed from the ‘neighbour principle’ - later elaborated in pure economic loss cases as ‘special relationship’, Hedley Byrne & Co ltd v Heller and Partners ltd p.118)
3. No public policy which denies the existence of a duty of care.
• The existence of a duty of care is a question of law for
All the necessary elements of negligence must be proven by the plaintiff, and any possible defence must be countered, in order to successfully sue someone for negligence
• Negligence is a tort, involving another person’s failure to take reasonable care in circumstances where their conduct might foreseeably cause us harm or loss.
What is a tort?
• The Law of Torts is concerned with minimum standards of conduct expected between people.
• To establish liability for a tort you have to go to court (ie. your right to expect certain conduct is conferred by law). Liability in tort is based upon a ‘relationship of liability’ existing between people, in contrast to contractual rights which are based on the ‘relationship of agreement’ between parties to a contract.
Aim and elements of negligence
Aim: Protection of a person’s physical/mental health and their property and economic interests from damage caused by another person’s failure to take reasonable care.
Question: Why has negligence become so pervasive since Donoghue vStevenson in 1932?
“Origin of Negligence [ Donogue v Stevenson ]”
However, to be liable it must be shown:
Step 1: the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff;
Step 2: the defendant has failed (breached) to exercise the proper standard of care (i.e. been negligent); and
Step 3: the negligence caused the plaintiff’s (reasonably foreseeable) loss or damages.
Establishing a duty of care : Must establish 3 factors:
1. Reasonable foreseeability of harm (preliminary part to ‘neighbour principle’ developed in Donoghue v Stevenson p.38);
2. A relationship of sufficient proximity (developed from the ‘neighbour principle’ - later elaborated in pure economic loss cases as ‘special relationship’, Hedley Byrne & Co ltd v Heller and Partners ltd p.118)
3. No public policy which denies the existence of a duty of care.
• The existence of a duty of care is a question of law for